Researchers at the University of Wisconsin Center for
Tobacco Research and Intervention knew that smokers looking to quit had a
number of pharmacotherapies available to them (the nicotine patch, Buproprion,
etc.) but they also knew that no head to head studies of relative effectiveness
had yet been performed – and so smokers looking to quit had no way of knowing
which truly worked best.

Looking to remedy this, the researchers enrolled 1504
smokers in a clinical trial. All subjects had smoked at least 10 cigarettes per day and all
were motivated to quit. The study subjects were assigned, at random, to one of
6 treatment groups:

Nicotine
lozenge

Nicotine
Patch

Buproprion
(Zyban)

Nicotine
patch + nicotine lozenge

Buproprion
+ nicotine lozenge

Placebo

All treatments were taken for between 8 to 12 weeks and all
subjects received 6 smoking cessation counseling sessions over this period.

To gauge the effectiveness of the different
pharmacotherapies, smoking rates were measured at 1 week, 8 weeks and 6 months
following the quit day.

The Results

After 6 months, only those using a nicotine patch and
nicotine lozenges were more likely than those in the placebo group to have remained abstinent.

Additionally, those who used the patch and nicotine lozenges
were most likely to:

Join Thousands of Readers

Although we all know that smoking while pregnant isn’t healthy for mom or unborn child, a surprising number of pregnant women still choose to light up. New research out of University College in London shows that these moms are putting their children at greatly increased risk for birth defects ranging from clubfoot to missing limbs to gastrointestinal problems.Read Article

About a third of us have a genetic malfunction which disables our ability to regulate nicotine consumption. Those of us with this particular genetic abnormality are at a greatly increased risk of nicotine addiction.Read Article

Trying to quit cocaine? You might want to consider ditching cigarettes at the same time. New research suggests that nicotine amplifies cocaine’s effects and addictiveness…just remember not to use nicotine replacement products, such as nicotine gum or the patch, as these too increase cocaine’s effects.Read Article